Radical branch of Socialist Party pushing Spain toward euthanasia

Madrid, Spain, Sep 2, 2011 / 02:02 pm (CNA/Europa Press).- The organization Professionals for Ethics has warned that pro-euthanasia associations, working together with the radical wing of the Socialist Party, are hoping to “achieve their ideological goal of making death legal.”

The organization said Sept. 1that pro-euthanasia forces are attempting to influence local governments until euthanasia is approved at the national level.

Ramona Estevez, a 90-year-old comatose woman in the city of Huelva, has become the poster child for supporters of euthanasia. Her son recently won approval from officials in the province of Andalusia to have her feeding tube withdrawn.

Dr. Maria Alonso of Professionals for Ethics pointed out that the regional law establishes that every person has the right to reject any procedure in writing that is suggested by health care workers. This can be done even if such rejection would endanger that person’s life, she added.

“In cases like these, to withdraw food and hydration from a patient in a coma is contrary to … professional ethics because by doing so the patient’s death is directly brought about. A coma puts a dependent patient in a state of vulnerability that requires that food and hydration be provided as a part of basic care,” she said.

“A coma is not the same as brain death, in which the patient is already clinically dead and the vital organs are artificially kept alive,” Alonso added.